Woman, 84, injured in fire in condo building in Skokie, Illinois
An 84-year-old woman was rushed to the hospital from a fire in a condo building in the north Chicago suburb of Skokie.
At 10:08 p.m. Monday, the Skokie Fire Department was called for a fire in the building at 9529 Bronx Ave.
The building is part of the Barcelona condo community, a cluster of four-story buildings near Golf Road and Lavergne Avenue and just south of Westfield Old Orchard shopping center.
Fire crews found heavy smoke conditions on the third floor of the building, and raised a working fire response and a box alarm for additional equipment and manpower. Fire crews from several nearby Chicago suburbs responded.
The fire was brought under control in about 20 minutes, and was contained to one third-floor unit of the building.
An 84-year-old woman who lived in the building was taken to an unspecified area hospital in serious condition, the fire department said.
Firefighters were seen on the balcony of the third-floor unit, and families packing the lobby.
One young woman said her family left their apartment after hearing people running.
"I started hearing like people running within the hallways of my building, people knocking, banging on doors, screaming," said Eliza Svetov, "and then that's when my sister and I decided to tell our parents that we heard all this banging and all this ruckus coming outside of our building."
All the units in the building except the one where the fire broke out remained inhabitable. Firefighters helped the other people who lived in the building back into their condos after the fire.
The cause of the fire remained under investigation Tuesday morning. A damage estimate was not available.